The Museum of Rostov Merchants is located in the mansion which was once owned by the Kekin family who became successful merchants in Rostov by breeding and supplying hunting birds before diversifying into other forms of trade. The most famous member of the family is Aleksey Kekin who left eight million roubles to Rostov in his will to fund the building of a grammar school, which still exists today. The mansion now has exhibitions on this family and on life in Rostov in the 18th - 19th centuries in general. Several rooms have also been restored to how they originally looked. The museum is run as a branch of the Rostov Kremlin State Museum Reserve.